Tag: holiday

Do you love the story of Santa and his reindeer? I have been fascinated by Santa’s reindeer from a young age, probably because I have always been an animal lover. Growing up in Colorado, there was a kids’ amusement park called Santa’s Workshop that actually had live reindeer. I loved to visit with them in between riding all the kiddie rides.

My husband always teases me a bit about reindeer once we learned that people from Norway (like many of my relatives) eat reindeer meat and even sometimes put it in their coffee. I think I’ll pass on this cultural tradition and stick to just enjoying reindeers as sweet holiday animals. I prefer to think of them as cuddly friends and not as tasty treats.

I got the idea of adopting a reindeer in my head after re-watching one of my favorite holiday movies, Elf. While clearly the movie has nothing to do with reindeers, I was reminded at the end of how essential they are to Santa’s journey. I wouldn’t mind taking care of a couple for the remainder of the year, provided they got along with my dog 🙂 Also, while I know I’m allowed to have a small goat here in my backyard in Austin, I’ll have to check on the status of reindeer.

Are you like me and totally loving the idea of adopting a reindeer? Than take my latest quiz to see which reindeer you should adopt: Which of Santa’s Reindeer Should You Adopt? Let me know what you get as your result and how well it fits you. This quiz will tell you a lot about your holiday personality 🙂

Discussion question: Which of Santa’s reindeer is your favorite?

P.S. Want more quizzes like this one? Get the latest from me each week by signing up for Blogthings Weekly!

Have you had a mini pie lately? I have been hearing that they’re the latest food trend, and I could use a break from cupcakes 🙂 I mean, don’t get me wrong… frosting and cake are great. But there’s something just so comforting about a flaky crust with a delicious filling inside. Maybe some whipped cream or ice cream on top too. Mmmmmmm!

Needless to say, I love pie. And what’s better than having a whole little pie to yourself. Mini pies definitely appeal to me. I love the idea of a tiny little pie – or even better, a collection of a ton of mini pies in various flavors – pumpkin, apple, chocolate. This year I’m still doing a full sized pie for Thanksgiving (going classically pumpkin), but I could imagine rocking a variety of mini pies in the future.

Are you as enchanted with mini pies as I am? Or just pie in general? What mini pie flavor best fits you? Take my latest quiz to find out: What Flavor Mini Pie Are You? Let me know what you get and what you think of your result.

And if you are pie crazy, check out: What Kind of Pie Are You?, What Holiday Pie Are You?, and The Pie Test! It’s making me hungry to check out all these quizzes, so watch out! I can’t promise that you won’t want pie for your next meal 🙂 Reminding myself that it may be a good idea to write a savory pie quiz one of these days to show shepherd’s pie and pot pie a little love!

Discussion questions: What’s your favorite pie flavor – mini or otherwise? Do you like anything special with your pie like coffee, ice cream, or whipped cream?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I hope you are having a merry Sunday, no matter what you’re doing – celebrating or not. I generally don’t feature a lot of drinking quizzes on Blogthings, as I have heard many of you don’t drink, but I figured if there’s any day I’m going to break that rule … it’s today.

For many people I know, this is a big day (or weekend… or week!) for letting loose a little and having fun with friends. It also happens to coincide with the end of a big music / tech / film festival in my city, and from what I can tell, people are a bit too burned out to party that much at this point 😉 I live in a neighborhood where people can “open carry” beer, which is a bit of a rare thing in the US. So even though everyone is worn out from ten days of partying, I do expect a bit of noise tonight. (As for me and Mr. Blogthings, we are a bit more low key.)

Anyway, when I think of St. Patrick’s Day parties, I think of beer. And not the green stuff. My Irish-American friends say green beer is a big no-no, and I’m happy to oblidge. Who knows what all that green dye is hiding? Today’s quiz is not about green beer, but actual beer brands. As in which beer actually fits your personality.

I’m not a big beer drinker, but I enjoyed writing What Type of Beer Are You? From what I remember of my beer drinking days, there are definitely certain personality types that prefer certain types of beer – even if a lot of those differences are just due to branding and advertising. I thought it would be fun to explore that in a quiz, and if you don’t drink much, you can just do some guessing for the questions.

Discussion topics (Comment below and let me know any or all of these):

Happy New Year! I really love this time of year, as cheesy as my sentiments may be. I truly feel like each new year is a fresh start, and I think we’re all ready for a fresh start about now. 2012 was a pretty good year for me, and I’m hoping that 2013 will be even better 🙂

Over the years I’ve celebrated the new year in a variety of ways… everything from a rave (oh, the 90s!) to a chill evening at home with television. Over the years, Mr. Blogthings and I have found a bit of a happy medium. We got out, sometimes alone, sometimes with friends. We are almost always back home before midnight, but at least we feel like we got out in the world and celebrated a bit. It certainly helps now that we live in a warmer climate. I used to be more of a homebody when faced with a freezing New Year’s Eve.

So of course, all this got me thinking about a favorite quiz: How Should You Spend New Year’s Eve? Just in case any of you are on the fence, it will tell you what to do 🙂 I have a feeling your New Years plans are probably set at this point, but if you don’t have plans yet (and wish that you did), I encourage you to be spontaneous.

Take How Should You Spend New Year’s Eve?, and let me know what you get. Also, I’m curious to know what meaning this holiday has for you, if any. A lot of friends have told me that they built New Year’s Eve up so much over the years that it always ended up being a disappointment. I personally feel very romantic about this holiday, and I completely blame watching When Harry Met Sally as I was growing up!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Blogthings! I hope everyone is having a great holiday so far. I know that some of you are very busy this time of year, but I also know that some of us feel a little lost and lonely without our daily routines. Either way, if you have a little extra time today, I compiled a list of fun holiday quizzes to keep you busy. I like to call it the 12 Quizzes of Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate).

Happy Festivus! (Well, technically, yesterday was Festivus, but I celebrate it all season.)

Do you know about Festivus? It’s a secular holiday that anyone can celebrate based on a Seinfeld episode, “The Strike.” It’s basically a silly and fun way to celebrate the holidays without anyone feeling left out. Pretty cool, right? I think so 🙂

Festivus includes feats of strength, a Festivus pole, the airing of grievances, Festivus miracles, and a Festivus dinner that ties it all together! It’s all a blast… a Festivus for the rest of us! Some people have started having Festivus parties to celebrate this wacky holidays. In my neighborhood, where people are a little more “alternative,” I’ve seen Festivus decorations and even been wished “Happy Festivus.”

Since Blogthings is a worldwide site incorporating many nationalities and beliefs (which is how I LIKE it!), I wanted to write a holiday quiz that we all could take together. No matter what holidays you celebrate or not, you can celebrate Festivus. I really love the lighthearted, welcoming aspect of this holiday, even if it started out as a joke.

So in that spirit, I wrote What Part of Festivus Are You? Don’t worry if you don’t know much about the holiday yet… you can still take this quiz. I don’t promise deep personality insights, although who knows?

Take What Part of Festivus Are You?, and let me know what you get. Also, let me know if you had heard of Festivus before taking this quiz. I had a little trepidation about writing this quiz, because I wasn’t sure how many Blogthings fans were also Seinfeld fans. Luckily, I feel like everyone can take this quiz. And who knows? Maybe I’ll make a Festivus celebrator out of you after all. We could certainly use more feats of strength and Festivus poles in the world 😉

Hello! Thanks to everyone who entered my Friday Fiver contest over the past couple weeks. While I think it was fun, I want to do something new (there will still be a contest!) more in the spirit of Blogthings.

When I originally started Blogthings, I wanted to give people a way to easily find fun things to add to their blogs and have more topics to blog about. Of course, in the era of Facebook, Twitter, and yes, still blogs, this has morphed into fun things to add to all sorts of social media / self expression services.

I felt like the Friday Fiver was sort of straying from this mission a bit, so I want to introduce something new – and kind of old. The Friday Five! If you’re a long time blogger, LiveJournaler, or internet geek like me, you may remember the tradition of posting five questions on Friday that everyone answers. I’d like to start this up on the Blogthings blog as a way for some get-to-know-each-other fun!

Without further delay, here are the Friday Five questions for this week. Simply answer below in a comment.

Friday Five – Holiday 2012

What holidays, if any, are you celebrating this year?

Do you celebrate out of religious reasons, cultural reasons, or familial reasons? Or a combination of the three?

Do you prefer to give gifts or receive gifts?

What is your favorite edible holiday treat?

What do you think about gift cards as holiday gifts? Thoughtful or thoughtless?

Wow! I can feel it in the air, the holidays are upon us. I hope your holiday season has been fun filled and joyous so far. Mine has – I have really enjoyed shopping for presents, buying a few decorations, and getting lots of treats for stockings. Later on, I think I will treat myself to some holiday movies (looking forward to rewatching Love Actually and Scrooged), as well as a marathon cookie baking / frosting session! I really live for a quiet holiday at home. Too much travel or fuss tends to stress me out 🙂

Isn’t it cool how we each celebrate the holidays differently? We all have our unique holiday style. Some of us like to do the whole holiday party thing, while some of us enjoy a little extra nesting this time of year. (Pretty sure we all like getting presents though!) Thinking about our differing holiday types inspired me to write a quiz about it: What’s Your Holiday Style? I love to hear how other people celebrate and what brings them meaning this time of year. It’s so great how we all find our all special meaning this time of year.

Are you more of a glam celebrator? Or a laid back homebody? Your holiday style is more than what you wear for the holidays (although that’s a part of it…I’m looking at you, Christmas sweater fans!). It’s a reflection of who you are. So take the quiz to find out: What’s Your Holiday Style?

Comment below and let me know what your holiday style is. Also, I’d love to know what little thing you are doing this year to make the holidays special. It can be as simple as having a little extra hot chocolate or as elaborate as a big family project. All that matters is that it’s special for you!

I have to admit that until recently, I didn’t have much holiday spirit going on. I know, I know… pretty shameful for someone who likes the holidays as much as I do. That’s not to say I was a total Grinch or Scrooge. I just wasn’t thinking about the holidays.

But today, it happened. I started writing a holiday themed quiz for Blogthings, put on some holiday music, and drank a little nog. And really, that’s all it took. I had my holiday spirit back, and I don’t think it’s going away until January. It’s time to get the tree up, the presents bought and wrapped, and the cookies baking (my favorite part)!

What about you? Do You Have the Christmas Spirit? (Really, “holiday spirit.” All holiday celebrations are welcome at Blogthings!) This quiz will gauge your holiday spirit … and maybe even give you a few ideas of how to get more into the season. I know for myself, sometimes I just need to get started to get my holiday spirit going. I find it a little more difficult now that I live in a place with no snow, but there is something rather lovely about a sunny Christmas.

And let me know what you do to raise your holiday spirits and spread cheer to those around you. This is a happy time of year for many of us, but I also know that some dread the holidays. I’d love to exchange ideas about how we can make it better for everyone. The small thing I do is make sure I’m extra polite to retail clerks when I’m out shopping and considerate to other shoppers. Everyone is stressed, so I try to make it as easy on people as possible.

P.S. Sign up for my weekly email to get the latest Blogthings first 🙂 It’s completely spam-free and private, so check it out: Blogthings Weekly

The holidays are in full force right now (Happy Hanukkah to all those celebrating), and while presents are fun, I think we all agree that there is a deeper meaning to the season. You don’t have to be a particular religion (or even religious at all) to feel a bit of holiday spirit this time of year. For me, it’s all about giving thanks and giving back. You know all those little acts of kindness and donations we forget during the year? For me, this is the time to do them.

So along those lines, I love the idea of holiday wishes. Even if they are just symbolic, I like taking the time to think about the world I’m in and how it could be a better place. In this era of self-gifting and wishlists, it’s nice to think about someone other than yourself. And that’s exactly what a holiday wish is.

My wish for every Blogthings quiz fan this year is that they have a happy holiday and prosperous new year. Whether 2012 was the best year ever, worst year ever, or just so-so, I’m hoping you have a much better 2013. And I hope this holiday season brings you all the joy, memories, and goodies that you could hope for.

In this spirit, I wrote the quiz What’s Your Holiday Wish? Some of the outcomes are silly. Some are spiritual. And some are special in their own way. Take it and let me know what you think of your result. Comment below to let me know.

And also let me know what your holiday wish for this season is. I’d like to know what is on your mind this time of year. It can be as general or as personal as you’d like. Just put it out into the universe and see what happens 😉